If Time Runs Out
by theshiy1
Summary: A story about a teenage girl who faces the tragedy of war, and loss while entering a world that seems like total mythology.she fights for her life and goes from being a regular teenager,to having to be part of something terrifying to survive
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1. The beginning

Imagine a time when different worlds never ceased to exist and the people in it were not so much as we are now. Not a time in early History, but a time of neither future nor past nor present, A world where time was not of the essence of anyone's need. It was a time of different worlds with unceasing battlement where factors of both simple and complex things collide.

It was an early spring morning in New York City. "Keli, wake up!" screamed her mom from the upstairs kitchen. "You don't want to be late for school." It was the first day of school after spring break and Keli's 15th birthday. Keli rolled over. "I'm up mom." "Right, her mother laughed musically.

Keli rolled over again. Thump! She hit the floor . "Dam twin size bed." she muttered under her breath.

"Are you okay down there?"her mom asked. "yeah, fine." Keli grumbled as she rubbed her head.

She stood up to face the full length mirror half covered with posters of her favorite bands that her parents called scary. She ran her fingers through her short raven hair and quickly underlined each eye with a dark black pencil. She yawned loudly as she pulled on a black shirt with bold letters that read "Leave me Alone."

"Well good morning sunshine."

"Hey mom." Keli said as she poured milk on her co-co puffs.

"Someone shouldn't be so grumpy on such a special day"

"Special day?" asked Keli confused.

"Happy Birthday!" shouted her mom and dad at the same time.

Her dad set a small box and miniature cake in front of her.

"I can't believe you forgot" he said in his contented manner.

A small smile crept on Keli's lips. "Thanks dad, thanks mom."

she opened the small box and pulled out a thin silver watch with diamond studs around the clock and tiny black roman numeral numbers. She stared at the shiny little clock, seeing her reflection in the glass. Quickly she fastened the watch around her thin wrist.

"I love it.". "thank you." She said happily. Quickly she hugged her parents, nearly knocking off her fathers glasses. "I will treasure it always." her mother's broad smile shone brightly and she held her daughter with undying happiness.

The day was already looking brighter as Keli ran out to the bus on Rolling avenue.

School was going by slower than usual.

And with a watch on her wrist, Keli would look at the time continually.

History class was a muddle of unsettled teenagers.

Screams of reunification were all around.

The teacher was talking about the war and many other things Keli was actually paying attention to. She looked at the Calender. June 14th 2045. Was there so much fighting years ago? She wondered. Dreams of war were in Keli's mind every night. Once she dreamed of a land that possessed no earth or people of her kind. She was terrified and woke up shaking uncontrollably.

Math and History was a blur. Keli didn't feel well.

She felt her head. Burning hot. Her mouth was dry and something clenched like a fist in her stomach.

She called her parents.

"Imagine that, and on your birthday too. Her mother shook her head as she drove Keli home.

"I'm fine mom, I think I'm feeling better already." Keli lied. She hated seeing her mom worry over her.

_Getting sick on my birthday, that's just my luck. _Keli thought.

Every night Keli's dreams were more vivid.

They made no sense. All blood and acid, nothing of beauty or peace in them.

Keli hadn't been in school for 6 days. She was scared of anything outside the house. Her friends called her, concerned. Her mom took her to see a councilor. They couldn't figure out the cause of the dreams or the phobia.

Then one morning Keli woke up. It was dark still, only little light shone through the small window of her room. Ravens crowed from outside the window. The usual buzz of traffic a sirens of the city was no where to be heard. The painful throbbing in Keli's head was gone and so was the fever. Her stomach felt better and she was actually hungry.

The house was silent. All the lights were off and the room was unusually cold.

Keli looked at her pale face in the mirror.

Her eyes were unusually lighter. A couple shades lighter blue than usual.

Keli was immediately terrified. She looked down at her slender hands. They seemed softer too.

She stared at her eyes again in the mirror.

They were almost like ice.

Keli began shaking.

"Mom!" she screamed. But no answer came.

She bolted up the stairs to the kitchen.

Her mother was no where to be seen.

Her father's usual sitting place by the t.v was deserted.

"Mom!"

Keli picked up the phone.

No dial tone.

She then drew the curtains in and with a wave of nausea, took in what she saw.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2. Ashes

Peering through the smudged glass, Keli looked at the ghastly landscape. The city was gone. It was just about dawn and the sky was filled with bold red streaks. There were no cars outside or buildings that usually towered the city streets.

Keli closed the curtains. A shudder sent her whole body shaking. She walked calmly to the door and slowly turned the knob. The door swung open the moment she let loose. A gust of hot air blew in her face. The air smelt strange- Keli couldn't put a finger on it. With terrified eyes, she looked out the door. A giant light was rising above the horizon. The light was scarlet and illuminated every crook and shadow. Keli took a small step out the door. She walked out on what would have been her sidewalk and felt cool, moist earth beneath her feet. The street was only a path of broken concrete overgrown with plants Keli had never seen before. The whole city was visible from where Keli stood. All that remained were piles of ash and shattered glass of whatever used to be. Traffic lights were uprooted and were now, only rusted metal crumpled up by the roadside. Keli looked at the house. It stood unscratched, with only dust settled on the white paint.

Keli gazed at her silver watch. To her horror, the ticking hand had stopped. The time read 5:15. An ear-splitting boom echoed in the distance. Keli screamed. Her high-pitched wail echoed through-out the dead landscape. This place seemed as far from civil as possible. Various booms kept echoing

far in the distance. Whatever they were, they were non-stopping and went on like a dead song. Keli ran out to the jagged road and stared down the street. She looked in either direction and saw nothing. Turning her head left to right, Keli fell to her knees and sobbed in despair. "Oh God!!!" she wailed. Pieces of gravel jabbed into her tender knees as she watched the hot tears fall from her face. She sat there until it was completely light out. Then wiping her tear-stained cheeks, she rose to face the truth.

She was by herself in a place that she once called her safe home but had suddenly turned to a place she no longer knew. There was obviously no human life or signs of living essentials in sight. Keli painted a picture of this new, terrifying place in her head. It was empty, hot, lonely, and dead. The sun still rose, the sun still set, atleast that was something that hadn't changed.

"_Are there any humans here?"_ Keli wondered. Am I still human? She looked down at her ivory white hands. Each one of her nails were filed to a point. She dared not look in the mirror again.

Keli walked on tip-toe across the hard gravel and back to the house. She entered the living room. The colossal grandfather clock that stood near the television also had stopped ticking. She looked around for any message or sign from her parents that told what had happened, but she found nothing. Everything was neat and untouched, in order as always. Keli argued with herself about what she could do. She thought "_I can stay here until someone comes to help me." _but when will that be? A week, A month, A year? _"Would anyone come to help me?"_Keli then decided the only thing she could do was find out what what had happened. Why had she been sleeping in her home with her mother at her side, to suddenly awake to a land of appalling ruins? And the biggest question: could she ever get back? Would things ever be the same again?

Although Keli's clock still read 5:15, she figured it was about about mid-afternoon. It was so hot outside, it felt like an oven rising in temperature. Keli closed all the blinds to shut out the scarlet sun's light and kept the doors closed since like the phone, the air conditioners also didn't work. She grabbed her school bag and dumped out all her books and papers. Keli went to the pantry and shoved her bag full of dried food, cans of soup and bottles of water. Keli lifted her bag. It was heavy, but not too heavy. In the waterbottle pocket, Keli stuffed in a toothbrush and an extra shirt. It was her favorite shirt, Keli suddenly remembered. The one mom had gotten her for her 14th birthday last year. "I have to find them." she whispered. She then ran to her room and pulled open the drawer in her office desk. She snatched her small Calender with Thomas Kinkades art printed on each page. Would a calender be much use to her now? She wondered silently. She still grabbed it and squeezed it in the bulging bag.

Soon it was night, Sooner than Keli thought it would be. This place was so weird. It was like time was the only element in this place that never stayed the same. Everything else stood despairingly lonely, like staring statues that never seemed to move from their place. The clocks had stopped, but was that because they couldn't keep up? Or was it because something was impossibly wrong and the rhythm of normal life itself had dissolved completely? Was it both? Questions buzzed through Keli's mind until she was mentally exhausted. Keli slipped on some walking sandals and threw the heavy pack over her back. Find what she may find, or nothing at all...It was time to go.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3. places and people

The night was dark. It wasn't the kind of dark you might expect when its only new moon, it was a kind of dark that scared you, the kind of dark that tells you that whatever is around the next corner is a despairing, irresolute secret you can only discover with life-threatening risks involved. Keli tried to shake it off. The moon was large- too large. Many craters were visible in its surface and the light slightly illuminated a path Keli was taking. Strange sounds kept Keli on edge. There was a mechanical cooing off in the distance, though Keli hadn't seen one animal during the day. Keli still didn't know where she was going. She had been walking through New York's ruins for about an hour and in a direction she didn't know whether was north or south. She tried to focus on the steady thud of her footsteps on the dry dirt. Cool air blew through her short hair as she gazed at the stars above. There was no north star or big dipper. That struck Keli as odd. But the beauty of these strange lights above somehow comforted her. They were twinkling balls of fire with a peculiar red-glow.

About an hour later, Keli stopped abruptly. She had been walking straight for awhile and now was at the end of the ruins and faced with a thick forest. A chill went up her spine at the thought of leaving the comfort of the bright moon lighting her path. What would she find in the woods anyway? Nothing made much sense to Keli, her actions, the time, where she even was. She entered the forest and walked through the dark trees. The bushes shook, making chilling noises as cold air blew in from an unknown source. Keli felt like her person had completely left her body. She was like a toddler, wandering aimlessly in one direction to find its mother. She had no thought in her weary mind. Only the instinctive movement of her feet kept her moving forward. She wound through trees, up banks, around rocks, until she was physically drained. Yet, somehow she kept going...on and on...with no logical though in her mind what -so -ever.

Keli collapsed on the leafy ground with a thud. She lay there with her right hand on her chest, feeling her heart beat, feeling its rhythm. "Rhythm" She whispered subconsciously.

She began crying uncontrollably. There are never enough tears inside to wash away the sadness you feel when you are alone. There was silence...complete silence. Not a sound to even scare someone back to reality.

Keli felt a slender hand entwine in hers. Warm fingers wrapped around her left hand and she heard a soft "It's okay." "Dreams are wicked." Keli whispered. The gentle male voice whispered "I know." She felt herself being lifted to the heavens. It would all be over soon. It would all be over soon.

"How long has she been out?" Keli heard a sharp voice speak. "Ever since I found her" The same soft voice replied. Keli felt herself slipping in and out of consciousness as she struggled to find reality. She felt a hand on her forehead. She snapped her eyes wide open. The first thing she was was a pair of deep blue eyes staring at her. She looked into them, then seeming to get suddenly lost, she closed her eyes tightly again.

His eyes... they were amazing...so unreal.

Where was she? Keli then suddenly remembered all that had happened that last night. She had heard God's voice, she had taken the choice of heaven and made it her own. But she was not in heaven. Keli could now see that trying to think logically anymore would not work for this place.

She had not died yet, she had not been lifted to heaven, but someone had found her, Keli finally realized feeling rather stupid.

She opened her eyes again, searching for that face. She found it again and stared at it for awhile before speaking. "I know you" She said. " You were in my dreams." He was a young man who looked to be about 18 or so, maybe slightly younger. His hair was wildly framed against his face in silver-white strands that hung slightly over his eyes. "I know you." He whispered. We have been waiting for you to come for a long time. Keli shook her head. "Who are you?" Why am I here?"  
"Don't worry about it" He spoke in a gentle tone. "I'll explain it all to you later." You rest for now.

Keli gave in to her desires to find the truth and let sleep over take her.

_ It was daytime. The sun was a brilliant blue in the sky. Rain fell and laughter rang in the distance. Keli ran, spinning wildly in circles then falling down with dizziness into someones strong, gentle arms. Stars sent flickers of yellow light in streams across the pastel sky and stippled the forests with fairy-like bursts of light. Keli's head was spinning as she looked into a pale face that held hers. She smiled and closed her eyes as she felt a rocking motion send her into a deep sleep._

Keli awoke to the sound of birds singing. Their strange call was nothing she had ever heard before. A song went through Kei's head. She couldn't remember what it was but still she kept humming the enchanting tune. Absent-mindedly Keli said "I have to find them." She bolted upright and frantically looked around the room she was in. It was like some weird twisted dream that she had got caught in. It was getting stranger and stranger as it progressed. Keli looked at her surroundings. She was in a room with stone walls. There was an open window. "A castle tower", She whispered as she gazed out the window with green vines framing the ledge. She saw greenery everywhere. There were giant trees with wide trunks and green grass covered the land. Keli looked at herself. She was wearing a white gown with wide lacy arms. _I have to be dreaming._ Keli reasoned. She walked to the door that was already cracked open. She nudged it open and stepped out into a large balcony.

"Here comes she!" An excited voice squeeled. "Come, we will have you dressed immediately."

"It's so good to have you back," said the excited lady as two other ladys led Keli to a room full of gowns.

Once Keli was dressed, she knew what she had to do. She ran about the Castle, looking for the man that had brought her here. Many people protested saying. "Dearest, we must sit and have tea and speak of the celebrations to have regarding your return!" Keli said nothing to them as she ran through the Castle Kitchen and out the back door. She ran through the gardens and through the courtyard. Panting and out of breath, Keli sat down on a stone bench. She looked at the wild roses entwining the small sitting stone. _"Who heard of a dream where you can't ever wake up." _

"Maybe you're not dreaming." A soft voice said. Keli looked up at the same pale faced, dark-eyed young man who had told her that everything was going to be okay.

"If i'm not dreaming, then why am I here?' said Keli, almost exasperated.

"Come with me and i'll tell you everything."

He took Keli's hand and led her through the thick forest.

Somehow this strange person knew things that Keli hadn't discovered yet. The people in this seemingly different world had appeared to be living here for sometime. It was like a midevil period of time, somehow set years in the future. Keli didn't know what to make of it and as far as time was concerned, there was no keeping track.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4. Digging for Truth

The forest was filled with a mystical fog with the strange sun shining through. Keli couldn't see where they were going but that didn't matter to her anymore. All she wanted to know was what happened and why she was in this peculiar place."Who are you?"Keli asked as she looked down at the Pale slender hand entwined in hers. "You know who I am Keli, you just don't realize it yet." He answered back sounding truthful. "Why am I here?" Keli said, despair in her voice.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes I want to know!" Keli said impatiently. Was this place always going to be an unexplainable riddle? Was she ever going to get any answers?! Keli felt exasperated.

"Keli. He said softly and almost hesitantly, "You are in a world where time stands still."

It was absolutely serial, like one of those corny scenes in movies little kids start laughing at.

Keli impatiently debated the possibility of truth in this man's statement. Her mind a soul wouldn't actually believe what he said was true, but she knew it was the only thing that made any sense if nothing else did. "Keli, I've met you before he continued, only you weren't the same Keli you are today. You were someone entirely different. He let his head hang down. Entirely different... _what is that suppose to mean? _Keli wondered. Keli let go of his hand. She was getting really creeped out. The way he looked at her like that...the way he talked in endless riddles, how his blazing eyes seemed to burn to her very soul. He seemed to be struggling, like a police officer struggles to tell a person that their loved one has died. Keli sighed as she looked at him in question. Keli, he said. "I gave you a second chance to live." Keli stared blankly at him for a moment then felt her face redden as she shook her head in denial. "Liar! She screamed, You're lying! "Where are my parents?" "Why won't you tell me anything?!" Keli stormed off into the woods leaving the mysterious stranger behind. _Does he think this is some kind of joke? When will this nightmare end!?_Her thoughts screamed as she wondered into nothingness.

About three and a half minutes after she blew up in his face, Keli turned around and walked back to the place where they had been talking. He was leaned against a tree with his head down, twiddling his thumbs. He looked up silently with a serious expression that turned to concern. "I'm sorry." Keli said honestly. Keli sat against the tree next to him as the silence seemed to drag on forever.

"It was years ago. He said. "I was once in love with a girl named Keli. Keli wasn't a human like you, she came from a different world, a world that never turned to war or corruption, a world unlike any other, or so she told me. Keli was my angel, my support and reason for my being. She had the deepest soul, like an un-endless fountain of natural beauty that bubbled straight from her heart." She spread that love where-ever she went, to different worlds and places in time. She was a legend.

She made me promise that if anything ever happened to her, I would be sure to spread her soul to a person on earth. She never thought of herself, only of what others could be."

"Keli, I know you don't believe me and that's okay but it's the only way to explain it with full honesty to you."

Keli sat mesmerized. Was she suddenly being pulled back to her mother's fairy-tails of mythology? Was she the next Psych soon to be turned into an immortal being to live forever in a strange land of happiness? "It's not real." she whispered. "I have to go back." "Let me go back." "I don't belong here, why did you bring me here?" I have to find my family, something is wrong."

"Keli, your whole country is at war, I saved you." "You can't go back or you'll be killed." "Please don't think about going back, you'll be safer here."

Keli felt the tears coming again but she held them back.

"So,what happened to _your_ Keli? She asked feeling a bit awkward.

"Well, he cleared his throat, sometimes no matter how hard you try, you can't take someone away from what they think their rightful destiny is."

Keli sighed not bothering to ask him what he meant by that, although she was sure if she did, she wouldn't get any answers anyway.

"Come on. He said as he held out a hand to Keli. They got up and walked through the strange dark fog back to the castle.

The colossal castle of pure art loomed in the distance as Keli thought of ways to get back to the human world, away from this formidable place of pure beauty and frozen time. Oh how Keli longed to see the mild golden sun rise again. She twisted a short strand of her dark hair as a plan unfolded piece by piece in her mind. She would listen to Slipknot again. She would go to the mall with her friends and be a normal teenager just like she used to be. It was a dream now, floating around in her head and she would pounce on any opportunity to fulfill it now.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5. A Step Closer

"I am not under any circumstances going to wear a corset!" Keli screamed fatigue in her voice. Her and the nurse maid had gone through this conversion probably ten times already. A dress had been fine, but a breath stealing, pointless torture devise was not the number one thing to experiment with on her list. Since scratching this evil womans eyes out with her lovely new nails was not an option, Keli decided she should be a good girl and just slip the terrible thing on. She would take it off later."Xavier commands it." the nurse continued,_ I _know who you really are and you will not be an embarrassment to our kingdom." _So his name is Xavier_ Keli thought.

Dinner was overwhelming. The table seemed to go on forever, filled with foods Keli had never seen before. I_s it safe to eat this stuff? _Keli wondered. There still might be a few crumbled gram crackers left in her bag. The food was all colorful. Shiny, and weird shaped. Keli remembered reading a book called "A great and terrible Beauty." In the book, if you ate the food of a different world, you would stay there forever. Of course the book was ancient, one her grandmother had gave her but it still planted a horrible superstition in her head. But Keli didn't have long to think about the food. All these people...they think that i'm her, they think that i'm his... Keli's face turned bright red as she looked in Xavier's direction. He came over and sat next to her. There was a great cheer from everyone in the dining hall. Clapping and dancing outlined the dining scene and everyone drank red wine saying "A toast to the return of majesty Keli, our beauty and daughter of our kingdom!" Xavier took Keli's hand and stared at her with eyes of pure joy. He stroked her cheek and said "Yes, she is back."

Keli thought she would be sick. She tore Xavier's grip from hers and took off running into the night. It was cold. The moon loomed overhead in the courtyard. The gargoyle statues seemed to peer in her direction as she ran to the far off trees in the gardens. She looked at her watch. 5:15 in the darkness it still read. There were no clocks here, no keeping track of time, no keeping track of anything, not even their own royalty. She was Keli. Beautiful, kind, selfless princess Keli. She wasn't a self-centered, stubborn or reckless teenage brat. She could survive better in a country at war, America, her ticket to true freedom. This wasn't the place for her.

"I wish you hadn't saved me." Keli said as she felt his eyes on her. "Keli." he said, his voice quiet. "Keli, i'm sorry."You will get used to it here, I know you will." He sounded so sincere, so kind, polite. "Xavier, i'm sorry too but I can't stay here, I'd rather die trying to find my family than live forever in this beautiful strange place with you. There was deep hurt in his eyes and Keli immediately regretted her harsh words.

For the longest time he didn't say anything, just stood there against the tree as if he had melted into the landscape, still and silent. "Okay he said. He was whispering now. "I will help you go back. "I will try to help you get back to this place where you came from. This world of destruction and men of war." He released a shaky sigh and Keli leaped up from the dew covered ground and hugged him saying "Thank you! "Thank you so much."

Keli had never felt such relief in all of her life. She would go back to her world. She would return to the real New York city, the place she grew up. She would return to her neighborhood, to her land...but then what? Keli tossed and turned in her bed that night feeling the strange soft fabric against her skin. This place made her crawl with unease but what would she find when she returned to New York? Her parents they could be- Keli shut her eyes tight at the thought. _They are alive, I can feel it_. She told herself. _And if they aren't?_ Another voice in her head asked. Keli contemplated suicide and figured it would be pretty easy to kill herself if she found her parents were dead. Death? What foolish thoughts, she reasoned. Suicide- even more foolish. What if it was like Romeo and Juliet? You die, I die, you come back to life? That would surely be an embarrassing closing to her valiant stand in this strange situation.

A rock hit her window. She bolted upright in her bed and raced to the shutters. A shadow knelt over and pitched another rock just as Keli opened them.

"I really didn't mean to do this to you." Keli felt a cool cloth on her forehead. Everything was fuzzy. "I just wanted to talk to you." Keli looked up to see a face half covered by a mask. _Like the phantom_ Keli thought. She still had not completely come around yet. She sat up very slowly using this person as a brace for her comfort. Before she had taken in her surroundings, The person in the mask said "Don't go back." "Don't go back there like I did." The person in the mask was really only a boy 15 maybe. Keli gasped as she looked at the boys left side of his body. It was discolored and deformed. He didn't have to take off his mask for Keli to imagine what must lye underneath of it.

Keli felt the sudden urge to hug this boys small frame, to grasp something that was real just so she could find out if this was illusion or not. He looked so fragile though, she dared not touch him.

"He laughed, I'm really sorry I hit you."I assure you, it was an accident." He winked and Keli had second thoughts. Her words came out in a rush. "It's okay really, please tell me what you want to talk to me about." "Are you from America?" Keli noted the Seattle Mariners shirt the boy was wearing.

The boy seemed to light up. He hugged her saying. "I'm so glad you're okay, _You_ still have a chance.


End file.
